Stuck
by Leveragelover
Summary: Nate and Sophie wake up to find themselves in a not so get-away-from-me friendly position and have to finally face each other about their relationship.


**A/N: So Kendra requested this because she was nice enough to give me an idea for a fanfic :) This was also beta-ed by imahushpuppy on tumblr! It is largely just dialogue but I hope you guys enjoy it! I don't own Leverage in case you haven't noticed**

_Stuck_

Sophie woke to the sound of cursing from beside her. She looked over with half open eyes to see Nate furiously kicking at nothing.

"What are you doing?" She mumbled

"Kicking at my imagination"

"Where, uh, where are we?" Sophie asked as she looked around the small space

"How would you expect me to know" He snapped back harshly

"God, no need to snap at me"

He kicked his feet out again and then raised his hand up. "Yes, there is need to snap"

They were handcuffed together.

Sophie started getting to her feet and ended up dragging Nate up with her. "So we're stuck in somewhere, handcuffed together and we don't know when we're getting out?"

"That would appear to be the situation"

"Well then I've been meaning to ask you if you still think our relationship is friends with benefits?"

"Ughhh! This is exactly what I didn't want to happen" Nate complained

"Well we're talking about it now" Sophie insisted firmly

"I don't want to talk about it though!"

"Well we're going to. I will make you" Sophie have him a warning look

"Oh please you can't-" He was cut off with a hard slap to his face

"Answer my damn question"

Nate brought his left hand up to his cheek since his right one was shackled to Sophie.

"Is our relationship friends with benefits still or not?" Sophie demanded

Nate scoffed and ignored her question.

"Answer my question" Sophie growled

"No. I told you I'm not playing this game"

Sophie narrowed her eyes at him for a second before kneeing him hard in the crotch. Nate bit his tongue to keep from yelling in pain. He felt his knees buckle slightly but he managed to stay up.

Nate then quickly realized the pain she would cause him just so he would answer her question. "Fine, fine, I'll answer your questions. I don't think our relationship is friends with extras anymore. I just have grown too..." He trailed off

"Grown too what?"

"It's none of your business," He snapped back as he rose to his full height.

"Well I think it is my business considering I'm the other half of this relationship" Sophie yelled at him

"Well I'm not telling you!"

"Fine."

"You know it's not all about sex, right?" Nate asked suddenly

"Well that's what friends with extras is and if I'm correct neither of us care"

"Well for once the great Sophie Devereaux is wrong!" Nate snapped back and was about to turn and go sit in a different corner but Sophie held him back. "Why do we have to be handcuffed together?"

"Maybe God wanted you to face me you selfish coward!"

"Oh don't even pull the 'everything happens for a reason' card on me. It's a bunch of crap"

"You're just an asshole!" Sophie yelled since she couldn't think of anything better

"Well you're just a bitch!"

Sophie slapped him again. "Shut up you stupid, belligerent, smart-mouth, condescending, asshole! I'm sick and tired of all this crap you're giving me"

"You don't think I feel the same way?" Nate defended

"But you always call me on the carpet and publicly embarrass me in front of the team. It's humiliating Nate! I can't take it anymore!" Sophie yelled at him

"You want to leave me?" Nate narrowed his eyes at her.

"I didn't say that! I'm just saying that I want you to stop humiliating me like I have no feelings. God, I'm a human too!" Sophie felt her bottom lip trembling and she bit it to keep herself calm

Nate felt like he should step down but he didn't. "Well how do you think I feel when you start talking about my faults in from of the team? News flash! It's not fun. Especially when they start asking me if I need help"

"Tell me something Nate," Sophie paused for a second to gather up her courage. "Tell me that you want me"

Nate blinked a few times, trying to process what she had just said. "What? That doesn't even make sense! Why are you even talking about that now?"

"Nate." Her voice was firm, "tell me that you want me"

"Now isn't the time, Soph" Nate muttered as he avoided her very strict stare.

"Then when's the time? When you get the courage up? 1 year, 2 years, 5 years from now?" Sophie's voice was calm but her body language said she was thrashing and screaming on the inside. "Admit it Nate, you can't face me unless you're forced to. That's how it's always been between us and it's never going to change"

"Even when I'm forced to I won't be able to admit anything"

Sophie's voice suddenly turned soft. "Please Nate, you have to try"

Nate yanked at the handcuffs a few times to remind himself the position they were in. "I-I've grown too attached"

"Attached to what?"

"I'm so deep in water it's unhealthy" Nate struggled to find words that said what he wanted but didn't at the same time

"Nate, I don't understand"

"I could never leave it so broken and hurt. It needs me too much and I need it too much"

Sophie looked at him with a slightly confused expression. "Nathan-"

"We play tug-of-war all the time and we like to parade into the boundaries of other countries"

"What?"

"But I was far to broken and it was too hopeful. We never could be. The next year it seemed to switch. Yet still we never could be."

His words started to make sense. "Nate I-"

"Nobody ever wins in our game because we don't give up. We won't give up. We're both too addicted" Nate swallowed hard after the last words

"I can see it in the way it looks at me and the way I look at it. We both want to hurt each other"

Sophie felt the tears stinging in her eyes. "You want to hurt me?"

Nate looked away, ashamed of what he had said. "For the way you left me I've always wanted to make you feel that pain"

Sophie clenched her jaw at glared at him through slightly teary eyes.

"And you've always wanted to hurt me for how I hurt you with my drinking"

"It's all bloody true Nate because everything you always say is always bloody right" Sophie scoffed in disgust at her own words.

"Then prove me wrong. Tell me something I said that's wrong." Instead of his words being harsh like Sophie thought they should've, they were gentle

Sophie shook her head no. "Just please tell me the truth, I can take it"

Nates jaw dropped open a little as he tried to think of something to say. "I-I can't leave you"

Sophie pursed her lips and nodded her head slowly. "Stop beating around the bush Nate; you've been doing it for almost 14 years"

Nate bit back the retort 'so have you' and decided to spit it out once and for all. "I love you Sophie"

Sophie grinned in happiness, her chocolate brown eyes twinkling bright enough to see even in the dim lit room. "I love you too Nate"

He leaned down and captured her lips in a passion filled kiss. Sophie swore they hadn't shared a kiss that jam-packed full of emotions since on The Maltese Falcon. The kiss seemed to last forever, only breaking away when they need oxygen. Nate stayed there with a playful smile on his lips as he pressed his forehead to hers. Her shallow breath skimmed over his skin and he couldn't help but steal another quick kiss.

"So being handcuffed together in somewhere and not knowing when we're getting out wasn't such a bad thing after all," Sophie murmured. She looked up into his now very blue and boyish eyes and they made her want to melt on the spot

"No it's not"

"So I guessing you want me then?" Sophie teased

"Of course I want you"

Suddenly the door to room was flung open and they were met with a huge round of applause from the rest of the team.

They just about fainted on the spot.

"Finally!" Eliot called

"Took you guys long enough!" Hardison added

"I liked it when Sophie hit Nate!"

Eliot squeezed his way into the room and pulled out the key to the handcuffs. The second Nate was free of them he punched Eliot in the stomach.

"I deserved that" He coughed

"You are sick and twisted people" Nate spat at them

"Really? I think they're wonderfully smart people"

"They locked us in a closet and handcuffed us together"

"But you finally admitted that you loved me" Sophie reminded him with a small smile

He growled and then decided that Sophie was right. "Oh, what the hell!" Nate pulled Sophie in for a long smoldering kiss. He could vaguely hear the team cat calling and cheering behind him.

All in all it was one big (cheesy) happy ending


End file.
